1163. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

All over the place but in a good way. MMJ are one of the most interesting bands out there for me right now - mainly because there isn't a weak link amongst them - what there is is an urgency to experiment, which sometimes works and other times not. I predict that MMJ will deliver us a perfect mindfuck of an album someday.

7.9 out of 10

1162. My Morning Jacket - Z

I was one of those who wanted the follow up to It Still Moves to be a direct, more intense sequel. So I took a while to get this. It's a pretty great album that falls a bit short in certain spots, or I am simply not there yet. But tracks like Dondante are just perfect.

8 out of 10

1161. My Morning Jacket - Acoustic Citsuoca: Live At The Startime Pavilion

Great little live document of MMJ at their acoustic best - five tracks where the only blemish is some meat head who yells out a long Creed like "yeaaaaaahhhhhhh".

7 out of 10

1160. My Morning Jacket - Chapter 1: The Sandworm Cometh - Early Recordings, B-Sides, Covers, y Mas

Obscurities that shed light on this great band. Hushed, lo fi and maybe never meant to be heard make their way onto this disc. Rocketman cover is great.

6.7 out of 10

1159. My Morning Jacket - It still moves

Such a great record. It still amazes me after all these years of listening to music how powerful a song or album can be to where it takes you right back to when you first listened to it - like a memory wound. It Still Moves has a few slow parts but I don't care, I love it for all it is perfect and imperfect.

9 out of 10

1158. My Morning Jacket - The Tennessee Fire

Solid, at times eerie debut from MMJ. It loses focus at times but it contains a few moments of beautiful melodies and harmonies. People who are still baffled by how eccentric the band sounds from LP to LP need to revisit this to hear a band that has never been afraid to experiment.

7.1 out of 10

1157. Dave Matthews Band - Live At Red Rocks

Not sure what got me to buy this, let alone listen to it. There was a brief period where I was negatively influenced by a few people, but that's no excuse. I'm slightly embarrassed about this - not because it's DMB, but because it just isn't good. They're all great musicians and compose great music for their genre, but it's just not for me. This is from my darker days.

4.5 out of 10

1156. Ben Harper - The Will to Live

Meadows got me into them, or at least this album. Ben Harper is more like the authentic Lenny Kravitz, his soul is soulful if that makes sense. Great mix of rock and soul. This also came with a great live ep.

7.6 out of 10

1155. Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way

Boy I guess I don't like Lenny Kravitz. Shy of the title track this cd is boring. Half baked lyrics meander through a lukewarm hot tub filled with potential fungus.

5.4 out of 10

1154. Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said

Sounds like Mama Said to rip off every artist that came before you. A lot of this album sounds like a cop out - there's pure Beatles, Marvin Gay and Curtis Mayfield on this. There are a few moments where Lenny goes towards the unknown, but rarely.

5.8 out of 10

1153. Lenny Kravitz - Let Love Rule

MTV did not come to Brazil until 91 I think, and when they did, they played a certain amounts of videos very often, they were RHCP Give it Away, Dee-Lite Groove is in the Heart, REM Losing my Religion, Janes Addiction Stop and Lenny Kravitz Let Love Rule. At the time, Let Love Rule was pretty exciting because it sounded like pop but was different enough to fall into the alternative category. The album is solid but not very adventurous.

6.2 out of 10

1152 - Little Barrie - EP

A promo release form this British trio that sound like vintage rock mixed in with some weed. A surprising little disc filled with enough moments for to hear 'keep me'.

6 out of 10

1151. Soundtrack of our lives - behind the music

In the early 2000's there was a minor rock revival and this swedish band was part of it. In truth the cd isn't that bad, but the whole purpose of this blog was to discard of things I never listen to, and to rediscover gems I'd forgotten about... having said that Behind the Music is forgettable despite a few moments I connected with a track or two they were too few and far in between.

5 out of 10

1150. Nico - Blind Melon

This collection of bsides and outtakes would probably never have seen the light of day if Hoon hadn't died. It's really for die hard fans who long for more from the original band. Includes a great cover of 'the pusher', plus a refreshing alternate version of 'no rain'.

7 out of 10

1149. Blind Melon - Soup

It's a shame that Hoon died for a number of reasons, but mainly because this band was on the way to doing something great. Soup was such a leap forward that you can't help but wonder what was in store for their third album. Lyrically and musically the album is unexpected, melodic, energetic and sincere. It doesn't get a higher mark because it does suffer from sounding a tad dated.

8.9 out of 10

1148. Blind Melon - Blind Melon

I remember not caring for these guys mainly because of No Rain, until one day a friend played me Soup and I thought it was interesting. Either way I still thought these guys were hippies, and that Shannon was cool though for having sang with Axl on a rooftop. A closer look revealed a band with some hippie esque influences along with classic rock and even metal or hard rock. This debut is solid and consistent in tone - it still falls a little too far into the jam band category for me, but I do appreciate certain parts of it.

6.5 out of 10

1147. Black Crowes - Live at the Greek

When I heard about this there was something that just sounded so right about it. As I have gotten older, my fondness for Led Zepplin has really grown. The Crowes add a fresh urgency to the Zep songs - sure Chris can't hit it like Robert Plant but he is singing with so much excitement and honesty that you end up not missing Plant. Jimmy Page returns the favor by adding fire to some of Crowe's classic tracks. What would have made the album even better? If it were a studio album of new material.

8.9 out of 10

1146. Black Crowes - Lions

Lions finds the Crowes with a slight return to form, bringing an edge back that was sorely missing from the previous LP. While it does have some moments of brilliance, and experimentation, at other times the songs are formulaic and the lyrics predicatble. If it had pushed farther Lions could have been in a standout funk rock record.

6.5 out of 10

1145. Black Crowes - Three Snakes and one charm

The Crowe's second and third album showed the band willing and capable of going far beyond the textbook r&b of their first LP. Sadly their fourth release steps way back into the R&B territory but without the bite that made their debut interesting. The songs are incredibly simple, and overly produced consequently highlighting how out of place things like the backing vocals are and how poorly conceived the lyrics are.

4.3 out of 10

1144. Black Crowes - Amorica

Hell, another great record from the crowes. They have gotten a lot of crap over the years for sounding the the Stones, but if the stones made albums like this instead of 'steel wheels' people would have been shitting themsleves.

9 out of 10

1143. Black Crowes - The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion

So, technically these guys are not from the classic rock era, but they are classic rock through and through. I forgot how great this album is - it doesn't sound dated at all - it's full on rock and roll, through and through, picking up where the stones left off back in the 80s. Perfect riffs, arrangements and vocals.

9.3 out of 10

1142. Stevie Ray Vaughn - Live Alive

Sure I had seen the video for 'Superstitious' on MTV back in the 80s and had read that Mike McCready loved him etc., but it wasn't until one day when Jorge and I were watching a special on him for VH1 that I was like wow! SRV was a great guitar player and bluesman in his own right, and was able to add his own flavor to any cover song while being an incredibly loud trio. Unfortunately for me that's where the magic ends.

7 out of 10

1141. Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed

I understand why people love classic rock - it's great! Some of the best albums ever made fall into that category. Let it bleed has so many classics on it that you would be hard pressed to play it for someone and expect them to hear it with virgin ears. The album has a casualness to it, and is both intimate and epic, creating songs that fall perfectly into place. It is so confident that it feels like a private moment where things are sloppy but feel right.

9.3 out of 10

1140. Bob Dylan - The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration

Most massive tribute shows end up all sounding the same - mainly because of all the artists are just singing along to one big song, and all guitarists are jamming the chord, etc. This live show has a bit of that but ultimately manages to bypass it will some stellar performances by Dylan himself, Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash.

7.7 out of 10

1139. George Harrison - The Best of

This is a great little compilation - Harrison was a lot deeper musically than people gave him credit for, in my opinion. "My Sweet Lord" is easily one of the greatest melodies ever written.

8.2 out of 10